It’s neither an apology nor a boast. The simple fact is I watch almost no television apart from documentaries, most of which are viewed on-line.
I haven’t seen a minute of any series mentioned in this article, and probably won’t watch The Deuce, either.
Rather, I read and write, and typically the way it works for me is that I read a piece about a television show, as below, and find myself intrigued by the subject matter.
Then I go out and find a book to read more about it. It’s just a better use of time this way. Different strokes, and all, but “a ready-made critique of market capitalism” is precisely the sort of exercise I cherish — so long as it isn’t necessary to spend time watching it.
David Simon: ‘If you’re not consuming porn, you’re still consuming its logic’, by David Smith (The Guardian)
Alongside longtime collaborator George Pelecanos, The Wire’s creator talks about their new TV drama, The Deuce, which examines porn’s impact on US society
… (David) Simon is animated by the perpetual struggle between capital and labour and believes that, after the ravages of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and globalisation, and the anti-establishment anger that produced Donald Trump and Brexit, the argument for unions and collective bargaining is as vital as ever. Which brought him to The Deuce, his ambitious new HBO series charting the rise of the porn industry in 1970s New York.
“What I stumbled into seemed to be a ready-made critique of market capitalism, and what happens when labour has no collective voice, and that seemed to be apt for this moment because I think a lot of the lessons of the 20th century are going to have to be learned all over again thanks to Reagan and Thatcher and all the neoliberal and libertarian argument that has come after,” says Simon, 57, unfailingly intense as he leans forward on a sofa.
